Lady Indians advance to area tournament

The Comanche girls overcame a slow start to keep their postseason hopes alive with a 38-28 win over Marietta in the regional consolation finals Tuesday afternoon.

The Lady Indians trailed 9-6 at the end of the first quarter but outscored Marietta 12-0 in the second quarter to take the lead and the momentum.

"We were up and down," said Megan Robbins, Comanche girls coach. "We started out flat, but then we got going. Our defense is what kept us in the ballgame. Holding them scoreless in the second quarter was huge."

Robbins said the team's desire to win can sometimes put extra pressure on themselves.

"They've just got to realize that they just need to relax and go play," Robbins said. "They just want to win and are not ready for their season to be over. They've got the tools and the capability. They just need to relax and go play."

Comanche advances to the area tournament in Ada where they will play Prague in the first round on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. Prague lost to 3A No. 5 Bethel, 62-28, in their regional final. They defeated Kingston in the first round of the regional tournament.

Unlike most teams left in the postseason, Prague has a losing record (12-13).

"They are kind of getting hot at the right time and hitting their stride," Robbins said. "They've had an up and down year. We've got to go in and play basketball and understand what our game plan is, execute it and play some aggressive defense. That's what creates our offense and that's what gets us going."

Robbins is not too concerned about having already played two games this week with the potential to play three more as long as they win.

"You take them one day at a time," Robbins said. "Drink a lot of water and sit and rest your legs whenever we can. Everybody else in the tournament is going through aches and pains as well. Everyone else is in the grind, too. It's just who's mentally going to focus in and lock in and do the little things right to grind out a win because all these games are going to be a grind from here on out."

Against Marietta, Kenley Lemons and Gracee Miller each scored 12 points to lead Comanche. Caity Blair had eight, Kylie Roden had three, Bri Keeling had two and Kynli Morris had one.

With the win, the Lady Indians picked up their 20th win on the season and are 20-5 overall.